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[A sober sacrifice] was offered among [the] Athenians to Mnemosyne, Dawn, Sun, Moon, Nymphs, Aphrodite Ourania, as Polemon says.[1] And χύλα νηφάλια ["sober timbers"] [is what they call timbers] which are not from grapevines or fig trees,[2] but those which are from thyme.[3] And this is the first [kind of] wood for sacrifices with fire, from which also thyme takes its name, as the sound [of the word] is made from θυμίασις ["fumigation"] and θύη ["sacrifice"]. But there are some sacrifices altogether without libations, which became customary by chance. Sophocles [writes]: "for I would never have met first with you[4] in my travels, sober as I am with you abstainers from wine." [He is] addressing the Eumenides.[5]
[The one] which are called ἄοινοι ["wineless"] because they are always sober and do not allow drunkenness.[6] But this is because of the sleeplessness of divine justice.[7]